December 9 - Good Samaritans

Were not for these three excellent gentlemen, the car might still be mired in the muck of Mud Loop, along the west side of 88 in Yolo County.

The

day

is

tenuous

already

heading

northwest,

under uneasy skies,

to walk

(14th in a series from Winters towards Oregon)

on the aforesaid from

Cedar Pine Palm Ranch

to

Union

School

Slough, and it is in attempting a u-turn by the latter that the deed is done. Immediately, no traction, including inability to reverse course up the slight incline, and we're done for. A call to Triple A, and while information is exchanged, the two heroes above left stop to assess the situation. "Is police protection needed?"asks the representative on the phone; well, probably not. And as we're standing / sitting around wondering what to do, the third hero arrives, and it is determined that three's a quorem to wrest the vehicle from the mire. All conveniently have mud boots, and give the heave-ho from the front, while driving in reverse, and still on the AAA phone. Thankfully avoiding a well in the middle of the situation, the auto is back on the pavement after only a few minutes. Hallelujah! And cannot possibly thank these kind folks enough, cancelling the request for a winch-laden tow-truck. Shaken, with caked material carousing off the wheels, on this 34th day of fall (high 59 / 61 Winters... .15 additional precip, 6.13 since the start of the rainfall season July 1), return home to compose page 4 of 24 Tone Preludes: II. Veiled Sails, and score-study a 5th system of Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid: Gun Battle.